Despite the glorious sunshine and attractions elsewhere like the Rhine in Flammen Concerts first night, every seat to sit on was sat upon. Not so surprisingly on an evening that offered three guests capable of headlining the evening. So where does my ominous headline over the future of Bonn Folk Club come from on such a pleasant Mayday evening?
There is a mountain of songs out there today that us ‘people of a certain age’ have heard so many times we could sing them pretty well in our sleep. Likewise there must be many tunes that any reasonably talented musician of that same ‘certain age’ could play in his/her sleep. That is most certainly true of ‘Money for Nothing’, ‘Brothers in Arms’, and pub-rock classic ‘Sultans of Swing‘. As a founder member of the mega-selling Dire Straits John Illsley should be able to play the old hits in his sleep by now – but does he send the audience to sleep too? I headed to the Harmonie recently to find out.
Wednesday night (4 May) will be a busy time for theatre fans as Bonn holds it’s annual Theatre event spread over many city locations. Far too many to list on this page but you can check the full itinerary HERE. Tickets are still available.
One thing I can tell you though is that one of Bonn’s best young bands, Steal a Taxi, will be playing a concert at 0:30 to 1:30 to round off the evening in style in the Bonn Opernhaus Foyer.
A sure sign of Summer is the gentle hammering of nails into wood down by the Rhine and as the above picture shows, it won’t be long now before the first Kunst!Garten concert. The Season starts with seven piece Westerwald Rock/Pop band Max is Alright! on 12 May and runs until 4 September. On 24 June the main Open Air Kunst!Rasen season starts with Sido.
Full programme coming soon.
It was somethhing of a blow when Henrik Freischlader announced not so long ago that he was ‘retiring’ from live music. To prove you can’t keep a good man down for long though he’s already back – this time with a pared down trio formation and a new CD. Tuesday’s show at the Harmonie was amongst the trios first live concerts (previously they did a short stint supporting Tedeschi Trucks). Guest reviewer Elisabeth Kassing was on hand to describe the evening in words and Peter Szymanski was on hand to provide the (excellent) pictures…
Jazz Tube has become an integral part of the Bonn Summer music scene. Budding jazzers from the local area can apply to be a part of this year’s event HERE
Good Luck!
The last time I caught Royal Southern Brotherhood live was a pretty special event. Three of my favourite guitarists were onstage – Mike Zito, Sam Fish and Devon Allmann. All of them were missing this time around, sounds like a recipe for disaster, but don’t bet aginst the Brothers delivering. This was another hot show at the Harmonie.
For a man who only started playing guitar because the neighbours complained about his drumming Henrik Freischlader has become something of a guitar legend, not just here in Germany but, through appearances with BB King and recently Tedeschi Trucks, worldwide. It’s almost a shame, because there is a whole lot more than just guitar licks to the man as his latest disc Openness reveals.
